Since he wan't in the Blue Cross preferred provider system, they send reimbursement checks to me, and then I endorsed the checks and gave them to Dr. Olsen to pay for his charges. I didn't keep copies of the checks. Some times the doctor's receptionist charged me a standard fee, sometimes it was more and sometimes less, which I paid using my VISA card.
Well, he didn't cure me, despite his initial optimism and lots of tests, vitamins, and treatments. The treatments continued longer than the 10 weeks, until Blue Cross told me that I'd used up the benefits. At that point I cancelled my appointments and stopped seeing him. My tinnitus is unchanged.
Eight and a half months went by and then he sent me a statement that showed I owed him another $1,578.06. At no time during my treatment did he send any monthly statement, nor did he send me any monthly statement after I left. In a letter, I asked for backup, which he provided. I made a spreadsheet to try to tie it all together. It was a mess.
When you are the patient of a chiropractor, you have no idea of what the relationship is between charges and treatment you are receiving. You twist, you breath, you are pulled, you are pushed, you are prodded. You have no idea of when one billable action stops and the next one begins.
In a letter, I asked him to review my spreadsheet, and in particular look at the many times where the charges to me did not match the amount billed to Blue Cross. He wrote back that he reviewed the charges and they were correct. I asked him to review the payments in my next letter to him. He responded by mail that he reviewed them and they were correct. Since I did not keep copies of the checks, I had no valid argument in return so I wrote him a check for the amount he said I owed and mailed it to him.
A couple weeks later, I recounted my tale of woe to another friend, who said Blue Cross would send me copies of the checks, front and back. I then asked Blue Cross for said copies and received them several weeks later. I added them up and, lo and behold, it was considerably greater than I was given credit for!
I mailed Dr. Olsen another letter with copies of the endorsed checks and asked for a refund of the difference, $920.86. A month went by with no response. I telephoned his office. His receptionist told me they would be reviewing my letter with the billing service, and I should expect a call the next day. That didn't happen, so I called them. The meeting was postponed until next week. I called the next week, they had the meeting, but Dr. Olsen had some more questions so they were going to meet again. I called again, Dr. Olsen was with a patient. I called again, they were real busy and hadn't had a chance to talk. I called again and they would get back to me this afternoon. This was two weeks worth of evasion and delay.
His position was that his billing service didn't know what to do with the account since they didn't get copies from Blue Cross, so he didn't send me a statement until 8 1/2 months later. My position is that either they are incompetent and should be fired, or he is in collusion with them to milk closed accounts with additional charges. Interestingly, the first statement that he sent me had most of the charges dated 8 months after treatment, with none of them overdue as of that statement date. That tells me that they were entered into their billing system months after the fact.
For several months I gave him the benefit of the doubt, that it was the billing service that was to blame. I've changed my mind after two weeks of evasion and lies. If he was honest, he would have taken my phone calls. If he was honest, he would have replied to my letter asking for a refund. I feel that he expects that by ignoring me, I'll tire out and quietly go away.
Well that strategy didn't work, today I filled out the papers to file a small claims lawsuit against him, and he motivated me to join the ranks of the bloggers about my bad experience with this Chiropractor.
To you who might be reading this before going to see Dr. Olsen, I'd strongly advise you to find somebody else. Run don't walk.
UPDATE: On a Friday afternoon I told Dr. Olsen's receptionist to not bother to call me back because I was out of patience and was going to file a lawsuit against Dr. Olsen to recover my money. He told me to do what I had to do. The following Monday morning the receptionist called me at 9 am to advise that they would be mailing me a refund check the next day. The trip to the courthouse to file the papers is now on hold, pending receipt of the check.
SECOND UPDATE: I received his check in the mail the following Wednesday for the over billed amount.
Summary:
1) He didn't fix what was broke, despite my full compliance with his "treatments".
2) Almost a year later he billed me additional charges.
3) He would not take my phone calls when I pointed out that his "billing service" did not credit my account for all of the payments that I made.
4) He paid back the overcharge only when threatened with Small Claims Court.
Pretty sad experience, especially when I was referred to him by a good friend.
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